New choir teacher Clayton Oberquell starts the year with a spooky Halloween concert

Not too long before the beginning of this school term, tensions were running high.  The choir teacher who had been hired for the 2022-23 school year resigned, and with less than a month before the start of the school year, a replacement needed to be found quickly. One man was asked to step up, and that he did. Being an accompanist for the choir for many years, Clayton Oberquell had a fairly good idea of how a choir should be run. However, Oberquell said he was unsure if he even wanted to return this year.

“I actually was thinking about not coming back with Mrs. Anderson leaving, because I have an interest in some other things that I want to try like starting a business,” Oberquell explained.

Being the accompanist and the director of the choir is an interesting challenge, but his students seem accepting of the new change. Oberquell’s first public performance was October 17th and started with zero-hour choir performing some popular jazz songs as well as “It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me” by Billy Joel. The next choir that performed was concert choir, this year made up of all female students.

The third and final choir who performed was the chamber choir, which is an entirely auditioned choir. They performed a multitude of “Halloween Pop” songs. This year the choirs brought back a long-time tradition of wearing costumes while performing, allowing each singer to express themselves in a unified group.

With the rest of the school year ahead of him, Mr. O looks forward to working on his business and working with his students in choir. The annual holiday concert will be held December 20, and will feature classic Christmas songs like “Carol of the Bells” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”